Change-over drive for spinning and twisting frames



Oct. 20, 1953 R. w. CUTLER 2,655,782

CHANGE-OVER DRIVE FOR SPINNING AND TWISTING FRAMES Filed March 4, 1950 3Sheets-Sheet l lit 0 M/ \m 4 u a 5 4 w w m 2 m w d V em g g 6 w), w z TJ a n J \\\\\\\\Q 7 2 w E (r u 208 m m 'lY lllllll' R. W. CUTLER Oct.20,

CHANGE-OVER DR'IHVE FOR SPINNING AND TWISTING FRAMES Filed March 4, 19503 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eta-4 R. W. CUTLER Oct. 20, 1953 CHANGE-OVER DRIVE FORSPINNING .AND TWISTING FRAMES Filed.MaI:h-;4, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5Tier/@1110? Wowrzey Patented Oct. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICECHAN GE-OVER DRIVE FOR SPINNING? AND TWISTINGFRAMES Roger W. Cutler, NewYork, NQY. Application March 4, 1950, Serial No. 147",664'

6 Claims; (01.57 105) Thisinvention relates to an improved drive forspinning and -twisting frame spindles in which there are customarilyformed built-in pulleys' or whorls adapted to receive a driven belt ortape therearound.

In conventional spinning and-twisting frames the spindles are usuallydriven in sets of four by means of a series of tapes, each of which isguided about four spindles, as well as an intermediate drum or cylinderand associated tension pulleys. As driven bythese so-called -fourspindle tapes at the present time, spinning and twisting spindles show amarked variationin spindle speed from spindle to spindle. This is due,in part,- to the variations in joint -of the 1% tapes; also to the factthat the drive gives greater speed on the first and fourth spindles thanon the second and thirdspindles; also to the fact that-there isvariation in jump of the sewed joint as it hits the spindle whorl; andalso due to variation of the tape tension weights applied in each set ofspindles all the way along the frame. These considerations, togetherwith certain other limiting factors in connection with spinning andtwisting processes, combine to place undesirable restrictions-on theamount and quality of yarn which maybe produced. a

The present invention is generally concerned with the problems indicatedand aims to provide an improved drive mechanism for spinning andtwisting frames and to devise a continuous belt type of drive which issuitable for use with standard forms of spindles as now employed inspinning and twisting frames. Another object of the invention is todevise a drive which eliminates several elements of conventional drivingmechanisms, which is more efficient, and which makes possible increasedyarn-output and improved yarn quality.-

These and other objects and novel features of the invention will be morefully understood and appreciated from thefollowing description of apreferred embodiment of the invention'selected forpur'poses ofillustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which a Fig. lis an end elevational view, and-partial cross-section, of a textilemachine of the class generally referred to as aspinning frame, andillustrates the drive mechanism of the invention combined therewith;

Fig; 2 is a'detail cross-sectional View taken on the line 2--2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is another detail cross-sectional view taken on theline 33 ofFig. 2;

Fig; 4 is a plan cross-sectional view taken on the line l -40f Fig. 1-,more clearly illustrating the pulley and driving tape arrangement of theinvention;

, Fig. 5--is a-diagrammatic planview illustrating two endless-drivenbelts with guide pulley arrangement'; i

Fig. 6 is another plan view fragmentarily illustrating a framewith twospaced-apart spindle railsandtape-guiding mechanism of the inventiorll lof a slightly modifiedfornlassociated therewit Fig. 7 is an enlargeddiagrammatic plan view further illustrating thetape-guiding guide rollarrangement suggested in Fig. 6;

Fig. 3 is a verticalcross-sectional view of a spindle rail andguide-pulley arrangement similar to that shown'in Fig. 6; and

Figs. 9 and -10-are vertical cross-sectional views ofspindlerails-showing-modified means of attaching guide pulleysto spindlerails.

In the-structure-shown in the drawings, one typical spinning-operationhas been suggested. Numeral It generally denotes a spinning-frame onwhich is supported double rows of roving l2 and-14 from-which strandsare fed to the drawing mechanisms l 6 and I8 and then to thebobbins 2tand--22 in the usual manner. Numerals 24 and-26 denote-spindle membersfor receiving the bobbins 20 and 22 and these spindles are mounted inthe customary manner in spindle-rails 2B and 30, as shownin Fig. l. w

In accordance with the invention, Icombine a change-over drive mechanismfor actuating, by means of a single driving memben all of the spindlesofthe frame. The spindles 20 and 22 include two rows of such spindlesextending throughout the length of the'frame l0 and arranged in sets oftwo along "each spindle rail of the machine, as may be more clearly'seenfrom an inspection of Fig. 4. Included in the' drive mechanism referred"to is a single endless'belt member'32 which may extend'from a drivingpulley 34 to one side of the frame 'and'along the entire length of thismember in contact with the spindles supported thereon; then laterallyacross the machine to engage" over a tension pul-- ley 36; then-alongthe oppos'it'esid'e of the frame in contactwith all of the spindlessupported thereon, and then back to the driving pulley, as shown in Fig.4. -The driving pulley 34 may be actuated by a vertically disposed motordrive shaft; or by any other suitable motor andpulley arrangement to belocatedat oneend of the frame It in the form of the invention shown inFig. 1. The tension'pulley*36 "is preferably fixed to a slide member 38which is mounted for reciprocating movement between channeled sides 50and #52 secured to the frame it. The member 38 carries a cable 4 whichpasses down over a pulley 46 and has suspended at the lower extremitythereof a weight member 48. The structure described may conveniently besupported on angle irons 5i! and 52 rigidly secured to the frame Ill inany convenient manner.

It will be observed that the belt 32 by this relative driving andtension pulley arrangement is supported for movement along a singlehorizontal plane which passes through the whorl surfaces of all of thespindles on either side of the frame and therefore the belt is. notrequired to be twisted or turned upon itself at any point and,consequently, may be constructed in a-manner suitable for carrying thestresses attendant upon this type of movement I have found that inaccordance with these requirements I may employ a relatively thinner andmorefiexiblebelt' than'those belts or tapes customarily employed in theusual cylinder-guided tape drive mechanism. As an example of onesuitable tape which maybe employed for this purpose, I find that afabric type of belt having a width of approximately three-quarters of aninch and a thickness of, roughly, .030 inch is satisfactory and may bespliced at its end portions to provide only one jointed section.

Cooperating with this improved and novel type of driving belt andtensioning means, I employ a series of guide pulleys 5 located along oneside of the frame it, and a second series of guide pulleys 56 arrangedalong the opposite side of the frame It), both of which series may bemore clearly seen in Fig. 4. As noted in this figure, the guide pulleysare positioned inwardly of the spindles in a somewhat ofiset manner,with the result that the belt 32 is periodically guided inwardly of theframe away from succeeding sets of spindles. The traversing cycle thuschanges the angle of approach to provide a relatively large peripheralarea of contact of each spindle whorl with the belt, and it will be seenthat the tape is guided along a reversely curved path which is subjectto a relatively wide range of variation by changing the position of theguide pulleys. With the belt arrangement of the invention it will beseen that traversing action may be continuously carried out all the wayalong either side of the frame, as suggested in the drawings.

In one form of the invention the guide pulleys 54 and 56 may, forexample, be supported upon movable rails 58 and 66 arranged inoverlapping relation to the spindle rails 28 and 39 and received atopposite ends upon the angle irons 50. These movable rails 58 and 60 maybe further adjustably secured for transverse movement by means of slots52 and 64 through which extend adjustment bolts 56 and 68. It will beapparent that upon moving one or both of the rails inwardly of themachine and away from the respective adjacent spindle rail, there willbe an increase in the angle along which the belt 32 leaves the whorl ofone spindle and approaches the whorl of the next succeeding spindle.With the adjustment means described, the angle may be varied until anoptimum angle of approach and departure of the tape may be arrived atand thereupon the movable rails 58 and 60 may be solidly secured inplace.

If desired, the movable rails 58 and 60 may be modified in various waysto adjustably support the guide pulleys 54 and 55, and it may also bedesired to form inner edges of the movable rails with projections 10,for instance, extending transversely inwardly of the spindle rails atpoints between the whorls. With this arrangement the guide pulleys mayalso be located in varying positions of transverse adjustment on thespindle rails.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the guide pulleys 5 5 and 55are further arranged in specific driving relation with respect to thespindles such that, of each pair of spindles, the one first turned byany given portion of the belt 32in its approach will be located adistance away from-the lead-in guide pulley a distance less thanthedistance between the second spindle of the saidpair and the succeedinglead-out guide pulley. Thus, in Figs. 4 and 7 for example, the lead-inguide pulley 54a is located a distance away from the spindle whorl 28aslightly less than the distance between the next spindle whorl 26b ofthe'pair and the succeeding lead-out guide pulley 5 By means ofthis'arrangement I find I may compensate for varying loadconditions' onthe single belt in starting and in operation which might have a tendencyto cause the second of a pair of spindle whorls to rotate at adiminished speed. In ofi'settlng the lead-in guide pulley from acentered position between pairs, toward the spindle which showsdiminished speed, it is pointed out that I increase the arc of contactdenoted by arrow A in Fig. '7, of the belt 32 with spindle whorl 28a, ascompared with the arc of contact denoted by arrow B, of belt 32 withspindle whorl 20?). A compensation in driving force is thus achieved ina positive and efficient manner. A I a In another embodiment of theinvention shown in Figs. 6, 8, 9 and 10, the same compensatedarrangement of the guide pulleys with respect to succeeding pairs ofspindles may also be provided for by individually securing each guidepulley directly to the spindle rail body. Referring more in detail toFig. 6, for example, it will be observed that the guide pulley 54, aswell as pulley 54a, are mounted directly upon the spindle rail 28 andbeing formed with a threaded stud portion and lock nut 82 for solidlysecuring the threaded stud at theunder side of the spindle rail 28, asis more clearly shown in Fig. 8. With this type of arrangement eachindividual pulley may be located at any desiredpoint in the spindlerail.

Another means of individually securing the guide pulleys to the spindlerail is suggested in Figs. 9 and 10, in which a U-shaped clamping member84 is secured by bolts 85 to the vertical edge portion of spindle rail28 and a top section 88 of the clamp lies in overlapping relation to thespindle rail in position to receive the threaded end of the stud 88, asnoted.

A similar type of clamping element 98 may also be secured by bolts 92about the horizontal section of the spindle rail 28, as'suggested inFig. 10, allowing the pulley 54 to'be mounted from the outside of thespindle rail instead of from its lower edge. Various other arrangementsmay also be resorted to for locating the traversing pulleys.

Also shown in Fig. 6 is another form of tensioning means which I maydesire to employ in accordance with the invention and which includes atensioning pulley 33 mounted on an arm 35 pivoted to an angle member 31which is, in turn,;-solidly secured .to uprightmember 39. A

r'od 4I is anchored in the angle piece, 31 and attached at its oppositeend to the arm-35, being normally forced outward by a compression spring43 interposed between the angle element and a washer 45. A secondtension spring 41 has one end anchored to the arm 35 and the otherendsecured to a threaded bolt member 49 angularly received in the element31 by means of an adjustable sleeve 5|. By adjusting the position of thearm 35 with respect to the angle element 31, a suitable tensioning canbe obtained against the belt 32 for a varying range of operatingconditions, and thus constitutes a desirable-element combined with thebelt and pulley drive of the invention. a i

With the above described tape drive-arrangements, it will be apparentthat various improve ments and advantages are present. For example, asingle endless belt may be used to drive all 288 spindles of a frame inplace of the conventionally employed 72 tapes or belts now required.This results in one-sixth of the total length of conventional tapesbeing sufficient for the changeover drivewof the invention, incomparisonwith the standard-drive and, consequently, there is approximatelyfive-sixthsdess windage. These factors make it possible-to provide avery marked decrease in spindle speed variation from spindle to spindle.1

It will be observed that if the guide pulleys were located with theirperipheral edges in alignment-with the spindle whorls of adjacentspindles allalong one side ofthe frame, the-contact area might-be assmall as 3%. However, this condition changes rapidly with-inwardtraverseof the belt, and if theguide pulleys are setback a maximum distancesuch-as has been suggested in the drawings fOl'fiXEtlIlDlE, itis readilypossible to get-as much as 60.% contact of the belt with the spindlewhorls. Another advantage of the guide pulley arrangement describedresults from the fact-that there may be employed, withoutun'due'pressure exertion against-each spindle, a relatively thin endlessbelt member which presents only one joint and which is characterized byextreme strength low stretch and great flexibility.

A highly important feature of the invention resides in the relativelythin belt construction since the thinner and more flexible the belt maybe, the faster each spindle may be driven. The faster a spindle isdriven, the more turns of twist per inch may be obtained, and thegreater the tensile strength of the yarn obtained. I have found that Imay offset spindle speed increase and convert it into increased yarnoutput, and still use less power, by removing one or two teeth of thetwist gear mechanism for the frame. By doing this, the turns of twistmay be brought down just above normal and there may be achieved amaterial yarn increase fora given operating period of time over astandard machine operation. As an example of this yarn increase inoutput, it has been found that a drive constructed in accordance withthe invention may provide from 1.87% up to pounds of yarn increase inthe same period of time consumed in a standard machine operation.

It is pointed out that this cannot be done with any other belt or tapearrangement of conventional spinning frame drives since although one mayincrease the size of the motor pulley to obtain, for example, a 5% yarnincrease, the power consumption rises in such a case up to, roughly,40%. In comparison with this power consumption figure there may be citedthe fact that power consumptionwi'th the "endless belt'drive otth'e'invention decreases materially and, in one specific application therewas realized a decrease in power consumption of approximately 21.25%;

As further evidence-of the versatility of the change-over drive of theinvention, it is pointed out that in some spinning operations wherethere is a 50 to 1 draft, certain limitations in speed are encountered."Thusthe spindle speed breakdownin 50" to" 1"drafting is understood to bereached at approximately 9800 R. P. M. at which point yarn tensilestrength goes down abruptly and 'ends do wn goes up abruptly. With thebelt tensioning and guide pulley arrangement of thei'r'iv'entidn, it ispossible to secure a natural increase iii-spindle speed, increasing yarntensile strng'tlfslightly,'holding power requirements approximatelystationary, and avoiding change in ends down. i

some instances it maybe found desirable in -dealing with the over-alllength of certain types -of -frames,- to'emp'loymore than one belt.Thus, for example, there may be used two endless belts 32-a-and-3-2b,--- each arranged to encircle, roughly; one-half of the spindles ina given spinning frame. Where this-belt assembly is desired, I mayutilize'a-double-faced pulley 36a as has been-illustratedat the centralportion of- Fig; 5 and consisting ofthe conventional arrangement of onepulley member located above-another on a common vertical supportingshaft, in order to provide suitable tension on each of the belts atpoints intermediate the spindlerails, and still resorting to a movabletrack type of tension pul- 1ey means, such-ashas been described andillustrated in -Fig.- 4-of the drawings, or to a tensioning meanasuchasshownin Fig.

It will be evident from the foregoing that I have provided aspindledrive which corrects spindle speedwariation -with. -mari=;edimprovement in the quality and quantity of yarn output and also withoutstanding savings in power "consumption, as well as economies derivedfrom the elimination of cylinders, tape tensioning devices, and multipledriving tapes.

Although I have disclosed one specific arrangement for guiding anendless belt member by means of guide pulleys and combining therewithtensioning means of a specific nature, I may desire to resort to variousother arrangements in accordance with the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. In a textile machine of the class described, the combination with tworows of spaced-apart sets of spindles and a pair of supporting railmeans, of spindle driving mechanism comprising an endless belt arrangedto move into contact with and drive the spindles, driving pulley meanslocated between the rows of spindles, guide pulleys mounted between eachset of spindles in offset relation thereto for guiding the belt along areversely curved path of movement, movable rail elements adjustablysecured between the rows of spindles for laterally moving the guidepulleys with respect to the spindles, and an adjustable tensionmechanism interposed in the path of movement of the belt.

2. In a textile machine of the class described, the combination with tworows of spaced-apart spindles and a pair of supporting spindle railmembers, of spindle driving mechanism comprising an endless beltarranged to move into contact with and drive the spindles, drivingpulley means located between the spindle rails, guide pulleys 7 mountedbetween each set of spindles in offset relation thereto for guiding thebelt along a re versely curved path of movement, a pair of movable guidepulley rails secured in overlapping relation on the spindle rails, andan adjustable tension mechanism interposed in the path of movement ofthe belt at points intermediate the movable guide pulley rails.

3. In a textile machine of the class described, the combination with tworows of spaced-apart sets of spindles and a pair of supporting railmembers, of spindle driving mechanism comprising a plurality of endlessbelts arranged to move into contact with and drive the spindles, drivingpulley means for the belts, guide pulleys mounted between each set ofspindles in ofiset relation thereto for guiding the belts along areversely curved path of movement, movable guide pulley supportsadjustably secured adjacent to the spindle rail means for laterallyshifting the guide pulleys with respect to the spindles, and tensionmechanisms interposed in the path of movement of the belts.

4. A structure as defined in claim 3, in which the tension mechanismincludes a double-faced pulley which is adjustable in a directionlongitudinally of the spindle rail means and along a line lying in aplane which passes through the endless belts at right angles to the axesof the said spindles.

5. In a textile machine of the class described, the combination withspaced-apart sets of spindles and supporting rail means, of spindledriving mechanism comprising an endless driven belt arranged to moveinto contact with and drive the spindles, guide pulley means mounted onthe supporting rail means between sets of spindles for guiding thedriven belt along a reversely curved path of movement, pulley holdermeans for the guide pulley means adjustable in the rail means to varythe peripheral area of contact of the belt with respective spindlewhorls, and a tensi mechanism cooperating With the guide 8 pulley meansto exert a substantially uniform tension at the areas of contact of thebelts with the whorls, said belt being arranged to meet the spindle ofone of the sets along the peripheral area which is greater than its areaof contact with the second spindle of the said set.

6. In a textile machine of the class described, the combination withspaced-apart sets of spindles and supporting rail means, of spindledriving mechanism comprising an endless driven belt arranged to moveinto contact with and drive the spindles, guide pulley means mounted onthe supporting rail means between sets of spindles for guiding thedriven belt along a reversely curved path of movement, pulley holdermeans for the guide pulley means adjustable in the rail means to varythe peripheral area of contact of the belt with respective spindlewhorls, and a tension mechanism cooperating with the guide pulley meansto exert a substantially uniform tension at the areas of contact of thebelts with the whorls, each pulley of the said guide pulley means beinglocated between the sets of spindles in offset relation thereto and in aposition so chosen as to be nearer to the first spindle contacted by theendless driven belt in any given set.

ROGER \V. CUTLER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain of 1856

